When they were first launched, digital currencies were meant as a medium for all types of daily transactions, from the small such as buying a book, to the large ones like purchasing a house. However, this hasn’t been possible since the beginning. Most vendors didn’t accept crypto as a veritable form of payment, and a lot of stores still do not. However, the range of products you can get is still pretty wide, and only expanding each day. An increasing number of sellers accepting crypto means that there is a wider range of products that you can purchase.
How do you buy with crypto?
Before getting into what you can buy, it’s important to establish the steps you need to take to be able to perform transactions. First of all, you must acquire your crypto of choice. When choosing an e-currency, it’s important to choose something reliable. While digital money has a well-earned reputation for volatility and unstable values, when you choose a trusted currency such as Ethereum, you have a higher chance of making profitable transactions. That’s because a crypto with a longer history is more likely to register steady supply and demand, meaning its figures are likely going to keep within roughly the same markers longer. Secondly, you must be sure to choose a trusted exchange that’ll give you the current Ethereum price values in real time. This is important in order to ascertain more clearly when is the best time for you to begin a trade. While ETH is significantly more trustworthy than other coins, you should still not start investments blindly, but rather keep an eye out on the market to determine the best moment to launch your investment.
You’ll also need to create a wallet. It can be either a hardware or a software option. The former comes in the form of a gadget resembling a USB stick, while the latter is an app that can be installed on any device you want, whether your computer or phone. This wallet doesn’t act like its real-life counterpart. It doesn’t help you store your crypto directly, rather, it stores the keys that allow you access to the blockchain which contains your e-money. However, you should be sure to choose a wallet that is compatible with your crypto of choice. Not all wallets work for all types of digital money, and while some are compatible with nearly all of them, others will work well with only a few.
What can you buy?
Crypto is still in its incipient stages. But is gradually becoming more mainstream, meaning that an increasing number of businesses and enterprises are accepting cryptocurrencies as payment. Moreover, companies are using the necessary payment getaways to guarantee that the e-coin is converted to fiat money at the time of transaction to guarantee there’s no price slippage. Some of the companies that accept virtual money at this moment include PayPal, Microsoft, AMC Theaters and Starbucks.
There are some car dealerships that accept payments in crypto, from luxury models and brands such as Lamborghini, to more accessible vehicles like Subaru. And if you’ve been considering getting an electric car, you can use your crypto to buy one as well. Predictably, since crypto is clear proof of technological advancement, there are many tech and e-commerce products you can buy with e-currency. There are many sites allowing this type of payment, including the Japanese giant Rakuten and the Canadian multinational company Shopify. However, there are also smaller companies that let you pay with crypto, so if you’d like to support smaller, local businesses and you have the option to do so, go ahead.
The range of luxury products you can purchase with crypto doesn’t stop at cars. Jewelry and watches are common favorites among traders. While usually unavailable on the official brand websites, retailers are generally more permissible, meaning you can spoil yourself and get the high-end items you’ve been dreaming of in exchange for digital money.
News media outlets tend to accept crypto for subscriptions. For example, the Chicago-Sun Times has accepted digital currency since 2014, same as Time magazine. So if you’d like to pay for your newspaper with crypto, you should know that you can, and that many renowned publications accept it. One sector that may surprise you is in insurance. While not accepted for long in this area, things are slowly beginning to change, with some providers now accepting e-money for their services. Some insurers actually accept payments for all lines, save for life insurance, due to regulatory issues.
The pros and cons
You can pay with crypto and do it fairly easily, but does that mean that you should do it? What are the pros of crypto over more traditional forms of payment? Anonymity is probably the most obvious, given how crypto is decentralized, meaning that you can conduct financial matters without having to worry about the scrutiny of authorities. There are also fewer charge fees associated with the payments, meaning the transaction comes at lower cost for all parties involved in transactions. You can also make payments from everywhere, if you have a working internet connection. The ease given by this quick access is no small feat, as it is usually not replicated in financial services such as loans or banks. But when it comes to crypto, you can access everything right from your phone.
However, you need to be careful with the payments you make. Once an exchange is completed, it cannot be reversed in the blockchain. The only way to get your money returned is if the money is sent back by the recipient voluntarily. Also, just like in the case of other currencies, you can also lose your crypto. This happens if you lose access to your keys, which is usually an irreversible thing. That’s why you need to make sure you keep your wallet safe and sound at all times.
Trading crypto is widely discussed, but while many talk about what strategies you need to adopt when starting your investments or what the warning signs are, very little is discussed about what you can actually, practically, buy with crypto. Once you become aware of what digital currencies can buy, your incentive to perform successful trades will only grow.
